India's Vinesh Phogat stunned Yui Susaki of Japan in the 50kg freestyle wrestling event in the round of 16. Susaki is a world champion and the gold medallist at the Tokyo Olympics but Vinesh fought well to gun down the Japanese wrestler and has made it to the quarterfinal.
For the first time in her career, Susaki has lost to a non-Japanese opponent. Moreover, this turned out to be only the fourth loss of her career in 14 years and Vinesh Phogat has certainly done the unthinkable at the Olympic Games. As far as the bout is concerned, India's Phogat was behind 0-2 after the opening round and the condition was the same with 12 seconds left in the match.
Just when everyone felt that she was going down in the bout, Vinesh showed her experience and earned crucial points in the dying stages. She turned the tables on the top-seeded Japanese wrestler and began celebrating the win. Though Yui Susaki challenged, the referee's decision stayed only for Vinesh to be declared the winner of the bout.
Vinesh Phogat will now face Ukraine's Oksana Livach in the quarterfinal round. It will be interesting to see if Vinesh Phogat can go the distance now. Soon after her stunning win over the world champion, congratulatory messages started flooding in for Vinesh as Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary led the way lauding the wrestler for her exceptional effort.
"@Phogat_Vinesh knocks out reigning Olympic Champion & 4-time World Champion, the wrestling legend Yui Susaki of Japan by 2-0 to qualify for the Quarter Finals! Well done GIRL! Well done!!" Tiwary tweeted.
Meanwhile, in another brilliant development for India, defending champion Neeraj Chopra qualified for the final round in his first attempt with a throw of 89.34m. He will now fight for the medal on August 8 at 11:50 PM IST.
